20/06/2023 14:00, Raslan Darawsheh: > Hi, > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Viacheslav Ovsiienko <viachesl...@nvidia.com> > > Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 7:59 PM > > To: dev@dpdk.org > > Subject: [PATCH v2 0/5] net/mlx5: introduce Tx datapath tracing > > > > The mlx5 provides the send scheduling on specific moment of time, > > and for the related kind of applications it would be extremely useful > > to have extra debug information - when and how packets were scheduled > > and when the actual sending was completed by the NIC hardware (it helps > > application to track the internal delay issues). > > > > Because the DPDK tx datapath API does not suppose getting any feedback > > from the driver and the feature looks like to be mlx5 specific, it seems > > to be reasonable to engage exisiting DPDK datapath tracing capability. > > > > The work cycle is supposed to be: > > - compile appplication with enabled tracing > > - run application with EAL parameters configuring the tracing in mlx5 > > Tx datapath > > - store the dump file with gathered tracing information > > - run analyzing scrypt (in Python) to combine related events (packet > > firing and completion) and see the data in human-readable view > > > > Below is the detailed instruction "how to" with mlx5 NIC to gather > > all the debug data including the full timings information. > > > > > > 1. Build DPDK application with enabled datapath tracing > > > > The meson option should be specified: > > --enable_trace_fp=true > > > > The c_args shoudl be specified: > > -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API > > > > The DPDK configuration examples: > > > > meson configure --buildtype=debug -Denable_trace_fp=true > > -Dc_args='-DRTE_LIBRTE_MLX5_DEBUG -DRTE_ENABLE_ASSERT - > > DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API' build > > > > meson configure --buildtype=debug -Denable_trace_fp=true > > -Dc_args='-DRTE_ENABLE_ASSERT -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API' build > > > > meson configure --buildtype=release -Denable_trace_fp=true > > -Dc_args='-DRTE_ENABLE_ASSERT -DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API' build > > > > meson configure --buildtype=release -Denable_trace_fp=true > > -Dc_args='-DALLOW_EXPERIMENTAL_API' build > > > > > > 2. Configuring the NIC > > > > If the sending completion timings are important the NIC should be configured > > to provide realtime timestamps, the REAL_TIME_CLOCK_ENABLE NV settings > > parameter > > should be configured to TRUE, for example with command (and with following > > FW/driver reset): > > > > sudo mlxconfig -d /dev/mst/mt4125_pciconf0 s > > REAL_TIME_CLOCK_ENABLE=1 > > > > > > 3. Run DPDK application to gather the traces > > > > EAL parameters controlling trace capability in runtime > > > > --trace=pmd.net.mlx5.tx - the regular expression enabling the tracepoints > > with matching names at least "pmd.net.mlx5.tx" > > must be enabled to gather all events needed > > to analyze mlx5 Tx datapath and its timings. > > By default all tracepoints are disabled. > > > > --trace-dir=/var/log - trace storing directory > > > > --trace-bufsz=<val>B|<val>K|<val>M - optional, trace data buffer size > > per thread. The default is 1MB. > > > > --trace-mode=overwrite|discard - optional, selects trace data buffer > > mode. > > > > > > 4. Installing or Building Babeltrace2 Package > > > > The gathered trace data can be analyzed with a developed Python script. > > To parse the trace, the data script uses the Babeltrace2 library. > > The package should be either installed or built from source code as > > shown below: > > > > git clone https://github.com/efficios/babeltrace.git > > cd babeltrace > > ./bootstrap > > ./configure -help > > ./configure --disable-api-doc --disable-man-pages > > --disable-python-bindings-doc --enbale-python-plugins > > --enable-python-binding > > > > 5. Running the Analyzing Script > > > > The analyzing script is located in the folder: ./drivers/net/mlx5/tools > > It requires Python3.6, Babeltrace2 packages and it takes the only parameter > > of trace data file. For example: > > > > ./mlx5_trace.py /var/log/rte-2023-01-23-AM-11-52-39 > > > > > > 6. Interpreting the Script Output Data > > > > All the timings are given in nanoseconds. > > The list of Tx (and coming Rx) bursts per port/queue is presented in the > > output. > > Each list element contains the list of built WQEs with specific opcodes, and > > each WQE contains the list of the encompassed packets to send.
This information should be in the documentation. I think we should request a review of the Python script from people familiar with tracing and from people more familiar with Python scripting for user tools.
